Minnesota Sports Forum

Let's say for fun the NBA brings back the Amnesty clause for just this upcoming year and the player you use it on has to have been on your roster last season and under contract for this season. Reminder the amnesty clause allows you to waive a player and their entire salary for the rest of their contract does not count against the cap although you do still have to actually pay them that money. Who do you let go and why?

monsterpile wrote:Let's say for fun the NBA brings back the Amnesty clause for just this upcoming year and the player you use it on has to have been on your roster last season and under contract for this season. Reminder the amnesty clause allows you to waive a player and their entire salary for the rest of their contract does not count against the cap although you do still have to actually pay them that money. Who do you let go and why?

Probably Rubio cause they could resign him for less or someone similar and get Rim protector next to KAT

Jester1534 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:Let's say for fun the NBA brings back the Amnesty clause for just this upcoming year and the player you use it on has to have been on your roster last season and under contract for this season. Reminder the amnesty clause allows you to waive a player and their entire salary for the rest of their contract does not count against the cap although you do still have to actually pay them that money. Who do you let go and why?

Probably Rubio cause they could resign him for less or someone similar and get Rim protector next to KAT

You can't re-sign the player you release under the amnesty provision.

I'd use it on Juancho - especially now after his shoulder injury, which makes him un-tradable and unavailable to play for a big chunk of the season. Ricky's on-court abilities and veteran experience, coupled with his expiring contract, give him some trade value.

lipoli390 wrote:

Jester1534 wrote:

monsterpile wrote:Let's say for fun the NBA brings back the Amnesty clause for just this upcoming year and the player you use it on has to have been on your roster last season and under contract for this season. Reminder the amnesty clause allows you to waive a player and their entire salary for the rest of their contract does not count against the cap although you do still have to actually pay them that money. Who do you let go and why?

Probably Rubio cause they could resign him for less or someone similar and get Rim protector next to KAT

You can't re-sign the player you release under the amnesty provision.

Well then I would just sign JMac and then use that other 17 million elsewhere.

As much as I like Rubio, that is a lot of money freed up to go find an upgrade to Okogie (3&D wing) or get a paint protector. So yeah, I'd use it on Ricky.

Solid Hypothetical. If I am being honest I don't think there is a clear cut option on who the Wolves would use their cut on if their was a cut available and that is a great thing and one of the 1st times in history the Wolves can actually say that.

The No Way They get cut players- Kat, Ant, Mcdaniels, Naz. Think those 4 are all pretty obvious. All are very good NBA players and Mcdaniels and Naz are good and also very cheap.

Fair contract or makes no sense to cut- Beasley, Nowell, Okogie, Layman: So Beasley is by the highest paid in this group but I think his contact is completely fair and is one of the wolves best trade assets and is a great 3 pt shooter. The other 3 players in Nowell, Okogie and Layman are all on cheap contracts. It is not like the wolves are close to the roster limit so no use in cutting any of those 3 players. Obviously not the best group of 3 players but it does not make financial sense to do so.

The guys who could be an option to cut
Rubio: He is making 17 million dollars and his production does not match his contract. I will say though cutting him really does not make any sense. He does not suck, he is a great salary filler for trades, also he is an expiring contact so his contract comes off the books next year and he is still a solid player even though his play was not what we need it to be last year. Also getting the 17 million off the books still does not get us under the cap (3 million short) so its not like we can add a player to fill other roles. Cap wise adding players is the same if Rubio would be cut. Only benefit is we are not by the lux tax number any more.

Culver: Arguably our worst player on roster. He will make 6.3 million this season. So it gets us away from the lux tax number. The thing is though he has a team option for next year so I just don't know the point of getting rid of him for nothing and just seeing if he can turn in around. He was drafted in the top 10 for a reason. I doubt he gets better but we can decline team option next year so its just one year try out this year for Culver and I think that is better then getting farther away then the lux tax #.

Hernangomez: Sort of similar to Culver. He has a team option next year so why really cut him. Wolves are so thin a PF. He can hit 3s and is a solid 10th man. If we had to use the cut I think he would be my guy just because he will probably won't be ready to start the season. Still he is a solid trade filler and he can fill a role and he improved last year and is still pretty young. If I had to pick one it would be Hernangomez but I still fine letting the year pan out and if he doesn't return to form just decline the team option in the offseason.

Dlo: Last guy on the list. Dlo is one of 2 players (Kat being the other) if this hypothetical cut happened would create the Wolves cap space. Wolves would be about 10 million under the salary cap. So is that 10 million in cap space this year and approximately 35 million (With no rubio or hernangomez or Okogie coming back) cap space in 2022 offseason. I am one of Dlo biggest supporters on this board. I don't think he is a legit max player but I also think he is the best option the Wolves have right now and I think his skill sets can really help in the playoffs if the Wolves could make it. I can hear an argument about cutting Dlo just don't think it makes sense if the Wolves want to try and win around Kat. Now if the game plan is cut Dlo and then Trade Kat and have the whole cap open up to build around Ant and possibly Mcdaniels I can see that. I just disagree with not trying to win this season.

Final verdict cut: Nobody. I honesty think this is the 1st time the Wolves don't have an easy cut. Like Rubio, Dlo, Culver and Hernangomez are all a overpaid but its not egregious. Also all but Dlo can be an expiring contact this year. No cut outside of Dlo gets us cap space to add more players then we could before and its not like 10 million is a ton to add players. In the end even though the wolves are close to the lux tax line I think the majority of the Wolves contracts are actually pretty solid.

Great analysis, kek!

One thing you neglected to factor into your analysis of Juancho is his injury. If it really is a minimum 6-month recovery period, then that strengthens the case for cutting him since he would miss at least the first 2-3 months of the season or more with additional time needed to play himself back into shape. His $7M plus the roughly $1.4M we'd otherwise have under the luxury tax threshold after signing Bolmaro and Vanderbilt could be enough to sign a quality FA defensive big or quality backup PG if we end up dealing Ricky for a defensive big. To that end, part of the analysis has to include an assessment of who would be available on the FA market to fill our glaring need for a defensive big and how much room under the luxury tax threshold we'd need to sign him.

Q makes a good point about the additional room we'd get for free-agent signings if we cut Ricky. But I can see us having our cake and eating it two by cutting Juancho for more free-agent flexibility and trading Ricky and other assets (Culver, Okogie, and/or future pick). We have two top needs: (1) a defensive big; and (2) a really good 3&D guy, preferably a SF. We could use our roughly $8.5M to sign a free agent to fill one of these needs and use Ricky in a package to fill the other. Some off-the-cuff FA or trade targets in my head includ:

Myles Turner - defensive, rim-protecting big who is also mobile with a pretty good perimeter shot
R. Homes - defensive big
Daniel Theis - lower-priced defensive big
Patrick Beverly - terrific 3&D guard

lipoli390 wrote:Great analysis, kek!

One thing you neglected to factor into your analysis of Juancho is his injury. If it really is a minimum 6-month recovery period, then that strengthens the case for cutting him since he would miss at least the first 2-3 months of the season or more with additional time needed to play himself back into shape. His $7M plus the roughly $1.4M we'd otherwise have under the luxury tax threshold after signing Bolmaro and Vanderbilt could be enough to sign a quality FA defensive big or quality backup PG if we end up dealing Ricky for a defensive big. To that end, part of the analysis has to include an assessment of who would be available on the FA market to fill our glaring need for a defensive big and how much room under the luxury tax threshold we'd need to sign him.

Q makes a good point about the additional room we'd get for free-agent signings if we cut Ricky. But I can see us having our cake and eating it two by cutting Juancho for more free-agent flexibility and trading Ricky and other assets (Culver, Okogie, and/or future pick). We have two top needs: (1) a defensive big; and (2) a really good 3&D guy, preferably a SF. We could use our roughly $8.5M to sign a free agent to fill one of these needs and use Ricky in a package to fill the other. Some off-the-cuff FA or trade targets in my head includ:

Myles Turner - defensive, rim-protecting big who is also mobile with a pretty good perimeter shot
R. Homes - defensive big
Daniel Theis - lower-priced defensive big
Patrick Beverly - terrific 3&D guard

Reggie Bullock is a free agent....wonder if he'd be affordable as an upgrade to Okogie as our backup SF? He can make 3's and was part of an elite defense last year.

Q12543 wrote:

lipoli390 wrote:Great analysis, kek!

One thing you neglected to factor into your analysis of Juancho is his injury. If it really is a minimum 6-month recovery period, then that strengthens the case for cutting him since he would miss at least the first 2-3 months of the season or more with additional time needed to play himself back into shape. His $7M plus the roughly $1.4M we'd otherwise have under the luxury tax threshold after signing Bolmaro and Vanderbilt could be enough to sign a quality FA defensive big or quality backup PG if we end up dealing Ricky for a defensive big. To that end, part of the analysis has to include an assessment of who would be available on the FA market to fill our glaring need for a defensive big and how much room under the luxury tax threshold we'd need to sign him.

Q makes a good point about the additional room we'd get for free-agent signings if we cut Ricky. But I can see us having our cake and eating it two by cutting Juancho for more free-agent flexibility and trading Ricky and other assets (Culver, Okogie, and/or future pick). We have two top needs: (1) a defensive big; and (2) a really good 3&D guy, preferably a SF. We could use our roughly $8.5M to sign a free agent to fill one of these needs and use Ricky in a package to fill the other. Some off-the-cuff FA or trade targets in my head includ:

Myles Turner - defensive, rim-protecting big who is also mobile with a pretty good perimeter shot
R. Homes - defensive big
Daniel Theis - lower-priced defensive big
Patrick Beverly - terrific 3&D guard

Reggie Bullock is a free agent....wonder if he'd be affordable as an upgrade to Okogie as our backup SF? He can make 3's and was part of an elite defense last year.

Good character guy too.